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what a day..



Had a wonderful day with the birds yesterday.  Well it sort of started
Saturday.  I was out at Harris Lake County Park and kept hearing an
obnoxiously loud call from up over the hill we were camped by.  I went up to
get a good view of who the loudmouth was and saw two beautiful birds that
I'd never seen before.  I looked them up as soon as I got home, which was
when the good day yesterday began.  Found out they were Great Crested
Flycatchers, boy are they gorgeous! 

After looking up those guys my wife and I stalked back into the woods we
live in.  The ground layer was nice and soft with moisture from the last
night's easy rain, so moving quietly was not a problem.  We crept up to a
narrow creek and could hear some splashing ahead.  Peering over the edge
down into the creek we saw a male Towhee fluttering about in the water.  He
was zweet zweet zweet'ing away as if to ask every other bird why they
weren't down there doing the same thing?  A couple were though, just
downstream a bit a female Cardinal was in and right beside her a male Indigo
Bunting!  All were dark with wetness as they flapped every drop of water
through their feathers they could.  We felt like we were in Central America
or some place tropical!

We didn't want to disturb their bath so we headed back in time to catch a
glimpse of movement in a sweet gum directly ahead.  We heard a call we've
been hearing for a while now but haven't been able to track down and got a
good look at the Common Yellowthroat that's been making it.  Then right
after that another even larger mystery was solved.  For a while now I've
been hearing this same call over and over but haven't been able to find the
little guy that's been making it.  Well the good ol' Ovenbird came to a
perch in a red cedar directly in front of us and just started singing away.
He would lift up his little head and let it all out of his vibrating throat
over and over, the exact call I've been searching for.  What a beauty
indeed!  We thanked him for the show and moved on back home to see the
Summer Tanager was back and letting out a constant little 'hiccup' letting
us know the suet was empty.

Got to watch some Titmice tending to their nest too, it's in one of last
years abandoned squirrel nests which was neat.  I never knew they'd take up
residence in one of those... and a HUGE Northern Flicker flapping reeeeal
sloooowly across a pasture showing off the white marks of his wings and just
his plain style... and could hear the dragged out solo of a remaining White
Throated Sparrow, going high and then dropping off and then high and
dropping off and so on until tapering off.. and the Chickadee sounding like
a Brown Headed Nuthatch... oh and them too, the Brown Headed's chasing each
other around telling each other who's who in that loblolly... it's just
endless action right now, what a wonderful, beautiful time of the year...
much to be thankful for!!!

Happy birding, Craig Armstrong / Chapel Hill